1 year post transplant biopsy

Today was a big day. Todd had his 1 year post transplant bone marrow biopsy. To recount what his doctor from Mayo said last September after transplant and biopsy that I copied from my personal blog:

"You have a unique DNA sequence in your myeloma cells. This doesn't change over time. Once we know the sequence we can look for it in all of them.  We can then tell how many Myeloma cells are present.  Looks like you have 3 different unique sequences.....On the surface I would tell you that one would be very disappointed to see these results because we were hoping that this number would be 0.  But, there is something that we have learned recently, in the past month, from another trial called Midas that was done in Europe.  It looked at responses done in Myeloma treatment that are similar to yours and patients with different chromosomal abnormalities and one thing stood out...the patients who have 11:14 transformation respond more slowly.  They take longer in going down to MRD to 0.  If I had not just heard about this, I would be really worried about your numbers but I think what I would like to do is hope these numbers would go down to 0.  Our goal is to get to 0 and we have the next 2 years to get there.  The data shows that if someone is going to be MRD negative (remission) it's going to happen in 2 years, if not by then, it doesn't happen after that." 

So we have been hoping that treatment the past year is still bringing those numbers down. The biopsy today will let us know what is really going on in more detail with his bone marrow numbers. Last time it took a couple of weeks to get the results. The waiting is always the hardest for me.

Todd's biopsy didn't go like he had hoped. Today after they retrieved some of his bone marrow, they had to adjust to now get some of the bone, (it's a 2 step process) but the drill kept falling into the original hole. They told him that it was so hard because his bone was "spongy" in that spot from the cancer. That wasn't something Todd wanted to hear. The very first biopsy the doctor was commenting on how strong his bones were but today he experienced something different. So they had to drill in a whole other spot to get some of the bone extracted. So he got 2 for the price of 1 today. Not the kind of deal we usually look for....;) Needless to say, he is amazing and strong.  He even went in to work a little here at the Phoenix office before and then again after his biopsy.   But, he is finally resting now and icing as he is in a lot of pain. 

I love to pray for miracles, but I have learned that God's will, will be done and that He is in all the details. So I pray for peace. Peace for me, for Todd and for the kids. That we know what questions to ask, what to do next and that we will continue to listen and be led.

Other than that, we just wait for the results. Walking into that hospital today brought back a lot of emotions. I wasn't expecting that.  It was a sacred and REALLY hard time for everyone.

Thank you so much for loving us and helping us through this trial. Hard to believe that it was almost 2 years ago that Todd was diagnosed. We truly couldn't do this without everyone. It's been a journey and one that I am glad we don't have to do alone. We love you. Thank you!!